He then brought me into the inner court of the house of the LORD, and there at the entrance to the temple, between the portico and the altar, were about twenty-five men. With their backs toward the temple of the LORD and their faces toward the east, they were bowing down to the sun in the east. He said to me, “Have you seen this, son of man? Is it a trivial matter for the house of Judah to do the detestable things they are doing here?” (Ezekiel 8:16-17)

Spiritual Adultery Spreads From The State Level Down

This is a bit of a follow up to Baptist State Convention of North Carolina (SBC) And Contemplative Spirituality where I brought you to the Spiritual Formation page of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina (BSCNC) website. I pointed out that BSCNC is the official state convention of North Carolina for the national Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) itself. The piece which started this investigation, Southern Baptist Convention Embracing Gnostic Mysticism, deals with just one spiritually out of tune Director of Missions named Kent Shirley of the Grand Valley Baptist Association.

I showed Shirley’s Recommended Reading for Pastor & Staff where he encourages pastors in this particular association within the Colorado Baptist General Convention to read books from those associated with the corrupt Contemplative Spirituality of the neo-liberal cult of the Emergent Church like Guru Brian McLaren as well as from those recommending Celtic Contemplative Prayer. That is bad enough in itself, but now we are witnessing the same kind of rampant spiritual adultery of the east from the very home of the BSCNC–the actual state convention itself!

As a further example we go to the December issue of BSCNC SpiritLines Newsletter and the introductory column by their “Spiritual Formation Coach” Wendy Minton Edwards. She tells us of “an interesting conversation” she had with someone who seems in her view to be very close-minded to new ideas. Edwards informs us she was “stunned as I heard these words come from the other person, ‘Whatever I’m reading, when I get to the first thought that I disagree with, I shut the book and never open it again.’ ”

Then Spiritual Guru Edwards recalls that she “mumbled something like, ‘In most of the reading I do, I generally find thoughts that trouble me as well as thoughts that stimulate and stretch me and I value all of them.’ ” Please listen carefully because I am not saying we should never read things with which we might disagree in some parts, rather what I’m doing here is alerting you to the type of reading Guru Edwards does. And even further I warn you about what books she, working for an alleged Protestant evangelical SBC ministry, then recommends we read.

Living Spiritual Teacher Richard Foster Slithers In

Well, it didn’t come as any surprise to me that serpentine Living Spiritual Teacher Richard Foster would make his inevitable appearance in this BSCNC debacle, and sure enough Guru Edwards enlightens us:

As I’ve pondered which is the wisest of the totally opposite approaches to reading, I came across some thoughts of Richard Foster that reaffirmed my commitment to learn all I can from others, even when their perspectives slightly differ from mine. God just might be speaking to them as well as me. In the October 2006 (Vol. 16, No. 3) issue of Renovare newsletter, Foster says:

While denominational structures continue, their distinctions begin to blur and fade as the issue of living well takes center stage. Indeed, the various denominations themselves begin sharing their great treasures into life in such a way that other groups take on these vital convictions as their own. From the Methodists we learn profound lessons about ‘social holiness.’ From the Baptists we learn more fully about the stabilizing power of ‘soul competency.’ From the Quakers we begin stepping into simplicity of life.

From the Roman Catholics we grow in our appreciation of a consistent ‘culture of life.’ From the Pentecostals we experience the empowering of the Holy Spirit for all of life’s vicissitudes. From the Mennonites we grow in our ability to be loving witnesses for peace in a war-torn world. From the Reformed we broaden in our understanding of our ‘cultural mandate’ to the world. And more. Theses treasures of faith intertwine with one another to give us a wiser, fuller way of living.

Here in Foster’s warped and toxic dream we have the further blurring of “distinctions” [read: doctrine] as in fact the rotten core doctrine of demons for the Ecumenical Church of Deceit (ECoD) was just spewed above by a Quaker seducing spirit on a supposedly Protestant evangelical website! Spiritual Director Edwards then goes on to say that, “Of course, Foster’s encouragement to learn from others is clearly spelled out in his great spiritual treasure, Streams of Living Water: Celebrating the Great Traditions of Christian Faith.” She also lets us know that her “review” of this Richard Foster book from which this Reformation-reversing quote is taken “follows.”

But first the man-centered spiritual cyanide is administered as Guru Edwards tells us that it’s ok to trust our fallen and corrupt human reasoning as she informs readers that:

I hope I never become so closed minded that I fail to hear, watch, and read new and challenging thoughts. Then I’ll seek to discern God’s best as I intentionally determine what to internalize and what to push aside. I hope you’ll do the same.

Warmest Regards,

Wendy

Contemplative Spirituality And Interfaith/Interspiritual Global Unity

Did you catch this? While paying lip service to discerning “God’s best,” and her high praise of Foster already tells us she has widely missed this mark, our Guru then says, “I intentionally determine what to internalize and what to push aside.” However, this is simply the natural outgrowth, not only of Contemplative Prayer, but of this whole centered on man new reformation once prophesied by the heretic Robert Schuller. Here is a sample of Edward’s review concerning this “great spiritual treasure” of ecumenical bile by Richard Foster:

Streams of Living Water is a spiritual masterpiece. It is a must read for those who desire to understand and experience the full scope of the movement of God’s Spirit… Streams of Living Water examines six historical dimensions of faith and practice. Within each of these faith experiences, author Richard Foster lifts up the spiritual insights and truths that particular tradition emphasizes…[and] leaves the reader with a clear understanding of how the work of the Holy Spirit is intertwined within many experiences and traditions and all are valid and needed for full spiritual maturity.

Watch out for these terms “faith experiences,” and so-called faith “traditions,” because where this is all headed is into forbidden interfaith and interspiritual worship. These modern Gnostics like Foster and Edwards feel they can discern God’s best and then just decide for themselves which faith experiences to follow out of the various practices within these different traditions. I’ve personally been studying this pseudo-New Age mumbo jumbo for quite some time now. Your key to understanding how these fools think that they will bring all denominations together into unity, and for some like Richard Foster and Brian McLaren all religions themselves, is Contemplative Prayer (aka transcendental meditation for the Christian).

Guru Edwards then explains how our Living Spiritual Teacher Richard Foster talks about:

The six streams of living water, or faith traditions, dealt with include: The Contemplative Tradition (the Prayer-Filled Life), The Holiness Tradition (the Virtuous Life), The Charismatic Tradition (the Spirit-Empowered Life), The Social Justice Tradition (the Compassionate Life), The Evangelical Tradition (the Word-Centered Life), and the Incarnational Tradition (the Sacramental Life). Introductory and concluding chapters draw the various traditions together.

And it is this “Contemplative Tradition,” the first poisonous stream of deadly water, which as a serpent is now attempting to swallow up all the others into its underbelly of putrid spiritual adultery. And yet on a Southern Baptist Convention website our Spiritual Guru Edwards tells us Foster’s book of heresy “Streams of Living Water is not just an excellent book to read; it is a resource to keep and utilize time and time again.”

Well, I guess we really shouldn’t be all that surprised that Richard Foster is now injecting his venom of Gnostic mysticism right into the SBC because in January of 2007 Southern Baptist owned Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary, Mill Valley Campus is offering the course “P1115 Spiritual Formation” with Dr. Faith Kim and the textbooks are Self-Care by Ray Anderson and Celebration of Discipline by a key mentor in the Emergent Church one Richard Foster.

And among the authors in the bibliography of Dr. Kim we find Foster’s compadres Emilie Griffin and Dallas Willard, Henri Nouwen, Eugene Peterson, and Tilden Edwards. More on Edwards next time, but for now I warn you that this ECoD has deeply infected the evangelical camp as a whole and this Contemplative Spirituality cultivated in the apostate Church of Rome is coming to an SBC church near you…and it may possibly have arrived already in your youth groups through Nooma videos from the Elvis of Emergent Rob Bell.